Researchers have developed a technology that can remove nitrate from water selectively, preserving beneficial minerals and dramatically reducing the cost of treatment compared with other purification methods.
Nitrate is a troublesome groundwater contaminant that is mainly caused by fertilizer runoff on farmlands. Many wells in agricultural regions exceed the EPA limit for nitrate in drinking water, and without an economical treatment option the water is unfit for potable use. But Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Stanford University researchers have developed a technology that can remove nitrate from water selectively, preserving beneficial minerals and dramatically reducing the cost of treatment compared with other purification methods, such as reverse osmosis.
“Our technology can scale from under-sink to municipal-plant size and will increase freshwater availability in under-resourced areas,” said LLNL material scientist Patrick Campbell, co-lead author of a paper appearing online and in a future cover edition of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The contamination of water resources with nitrate is a growing and significant problem, especially in agricultural regions. Realizing this, the team used capacitive deionization electrodes made from ultramicroporous carbon with less than one nanometer-size pores that are perfect for removing nitrate molecules.
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Image via Ryan Chen, LLNL
